Alohomora: Life After Hogwarts
by Solisdea
Summary: It's been one year after the Second Wizarding War where Harry Potter, alongside his best friends and fiance, is transitioning into the clutches of adulthood. Will Harry finally be able to start his life and heal from his scarred past, or will the Wizarding World need to call upon their beloved hero to keep them astray from Dark Magic once again? Continuation of Obliviate Series.
1. Chapter 1

**This is a continuation of the Obliviate/Aparecium series. It is not necessary to read those to completely understand what's going on, but if you'd like backstory feel free to visit my page and read through them! I own nothing and appreciate you taking your time to drop by :)**

 **~ Solis**

* * *

A warm section of a glittery sun rays intersected an empty space between Harry Potter and his molded ceramic cup of his aromatic chestnut colored coffee, which sat perfectly atop a copy of the Daily Prophet. The headline read "One Year After the Battle of Hogwarts: How the Castle was Rebuilt and What's Going on Inside of it Today."

Although Harry didn't need to read the article, he must've paged through it at least a dozen times on that lazy Sunday morning to appreciate how the normal cynicism had changed over the last year of the writers of the Prophet. Harry scraped his knees on enough destroyed cement as him and his friends used their own bare hands to piece Hogwarts castle back together over the summer, so the story was more than committed to memory.

Harry felt a secondhand proudness when he paged to the sports section and saw Ginny Weasley's picture larger than half the size of the page finally publically announcing her signing onto the Holyhead Harpies. Of course Ron told them immediately once Ginny had tried out, so it wasn't much of a surprise, just more of honored moment for her.

Many things had happened since the Battle of Hogwarts, where Harry's life had been the best that he could have imagined, even having to recover every single day since. The four pooled their money together and bought a humble gray stoned cottage in Harlech, a town of Wales, which sat only a half a mile from the ocean and placed perfectly on the edge of a deep forest line. On some days, Harry could sit in the miniature courtyard and listen to the waves crash against the seawall, but also enjoy the mild roar of the forest leaves. The cottage had three bedrooms, and was cozy, but just enough to fit the four of them comfortably with more than enough space for visitors. Harry was immediately sold after the welcoming impression reminded him of the tranquility he felt at Shell Cottage, and the others picked up on the therapeutic vibe, as well. Their backyard was the biggest in the tiny neighborhood, with rows and rows of bountiful garden plants, which the previous owner took pride in.

Rules were much different in the Wizarding World now that Kingsley Shacklebolt was the Minister of Magic. Which was relieving to Harry and Ron, since they opted to not to return to Hogwarts to finish out their 7th year. Harry solidified that decision after him, Lia, Ron and Hermione worked tirelessly to rebuild the castle and around every corner was a reminder of everything that had happened to him over the years. The weeks following the Battle of Hogwarts Harry wasn't even able to leave his locked temporary bedroom at Grimmauld place, and it was a day-by-day healing process. Shacklebolt allowed for Harry and Ron to participate in a work-study program where they would earn their completion of Hogwarts schooling while preparing for an Auror career. Headmaster McGonagall allowed for Lia to take Professor Sprout's position, due to her retirement to the tropics to study rainforest plants. Lia planned on studying her final Hogwarts courses over the three years she was to be the professor of Herbology, until she would then be taking Horace Slughorn's position as the permanent Potions professor. Minerva wished that Lia allow Neville Longbottom to be her student instructor while she taught before the switch over. Then, Neville would be taking the position of Herbology professor, which McGonagall assumed three years was more than enough time for him to learn how to be a proper instructor. Hermione chose to become a Hogwarts student alone for her last year, where she had acquired plenty of information about Professional Schooling in the Ministry of Magic.

* * *

"Harry!" A voice yelped from around the darkened hallway, disturbing the usual group of swallows chirping in a nearby oak tree.

Harry rushed to the dismayed voice only to find Ophelia Bloom with her back towards him in the bathroom connected to their homey bedroom.

"Harry, what the fuck!?" Lia panicked with a white bushy wolf tail poking out from underneath her nightgown.

"Lia, calm down! You're going to wake up Ron and Hermione." Harry forcefully whispered.

"Calm down? Harry, this is a full sized tail growing from outside of my back. You calm down!" She sneered.

Dashing from the bathroom, she nearly knocked Harry over as she marched toward her ashen chest filled to the gills with any potion imaginable.

"You're not going to find anything to fix it, Lia." Harry chastised.

"If I don't get this…. Wolf… thing under control by the time I start teaching at Hogwarts in the fall, I will be the goddamn laughing stock of the school!"

"Lia, do you really think that a wolf tail is the worst thing they've ever seen?"

Their conversation was interrupted by a sleepy eyed Hermione who was fascinated by Lia's new addition, nearly tugging on it to test the authenticity.

"Ouch Hermione!"

The three gravitated back to their rustic style kitchen where they sat comfortably around a deep brown round table that Harry had already been smug with earlier that morning.

"This has been happening ever since the battle, isn't that right Lia?" Hermione inquired.

"Not the tail… yet…. "

The three briefly recalled the final day of the Battle of Hogwarts where Bellatrix Lestrange had nearly melted all of Lia's insides with a tainted cruitiatus curse. Madame Pomfrey made comments about how she thought Lia wasn't going to make it until a bright blue light descended into her chest where she made a full recovery only days later.

"First my hair…" Lia forcefully pointed to her now bright silver curls pouring out of her skull like ringlets of shimmering silver.

"Then a couple of times, I've grown whiskers."

Harry recollected a clear memory of an impending date the two were supposed to go on until Lia could be heard storming about the cottage with a mouth covered in thick black whiskers.

"Have you ever thought that maybe you are an animagus?" Hermione questioned.

"I think I would have known before now… But… that has crossed my mind that somehow my DNA was altered that night…" Lia admitted, while sticking two fingers in her mouth and whistling so loud that Harry's ears rang.

No noise followed, but the three soon saw a bright blue light come barreling into the kitchen, which then morphed into a tiny wolf puppy patronus. Hermione and Lia deduced that Apollo had been the light that lowered itself into Lia's chest, especially since that after that night Apollo had been practically reborn.

"He's grown quite a bit since…" Lia chuckled while rubbing her fingers against his airy pale blue head.

There was something very different about Lia and her patronus, which Hermione spent plenty of time researching trying to figure out any bit of history on such a phenomena. The only thing she could find is that there used to be an ancient race of witches and wizards called the Animacaeles, who were considered God-like. Their souls would manifest as their patronus, and be much more powerful and magic wielding than a regular patronus. Such magic had been extinct since before even Hogwarts was founded after a many of the wizarding wars, no one had ever seen an Animacaeles since.

Loud footsteps thumped down the rickety staircase, and a red wild mane sat atop Ron's puffy face, which barely showed his sleepy eyes. He was indifferent to the gathering at the table, since Ron was always the last body to wake and mosey down into the kitchen no earlier than 10a.m. He scratched his bare belly while pouring a steaming cup of black coffee that Harry had brewed early on in the morning. His arm disappeared deep into the fridge as he pulled out a thick green-glassed bottle, which reflected against the bright morning light and sent emerald flashes throughout the room. In seconds Harry dropped to the floor covering his face with his shaking hands; words didn't form properly as he muttered them in a panic. Lia dropped to the ground putting one of Harry's hands on her chest so he could feel her breathing. When Harry would have an episode, Lia learned quickly that he would forget to breath, which would cause a severe panic attack, so having him feel her breathe helped alleviate that.

"Come back, Harry." Lia sweetly whispered to him, "Come back to me."

Over the course of a few minutes, Harry's body slowly relaxed where reality came back to him. Ron stood in the background, not moving with the bottle of whiskey in his hands.

"Pour me a spot, Ron." Harry shakily said as he lifted himself from the ground.

"Straight? I was just going to have a dash in my coffee-"

"You can toss an ice cube in there, I don't care. Just do it quick."

Ron passed over a short glass filled with the amber colored alcohol, which was tossed back and gone before the three even blinked. Harry slipped away from the group, and disappeared for the rest of the peaceful morning.


	2. Chapter 2

Their first summer at the Harlech cottage was the most eventful one to say the least. All four bodies involved had different agendas, and definitely used the cottage to the fullest advantage. Hermione, of course, overtook the spare bedroom and turned it into a makeshift library where she planned on studying as much as humanly possible to expedite her final year. Harry occupied the attic, where he spent his time studying old records and books of Dark Magic throughout the times. Although Voldemort had finally been defeated, Harry had no room for naivety, especially since it was no secret he was on the path to becoming the best Auror that ever existed. It also didn't help that Harry was able to find the letters that Hermione and Lia would attempt to destroy or hide of stray Voldemort follower letters that were sent to the cottage with extreme hate bled into the pages. Harry had been used to being threatened at that point, so it was no skin off of his nose.

Ron was mainly found in his bed, or on the sofa, sometimes spending days at The Burrow with his brothers. Ron was more optimistic about the world and figured once Harry and him had joined the Ministry, there would be no chance of any Dark Magic getting past them. Finally, Lia occupied the 3 seasons room, where it was overgrown with random plants and covered in phials, beakers or cauldrons of potions constantly brewing. It never failed that in the evening, the four of them would gather for a charming dinner, always ending the night on a high note.

The four appreciated the abundance of nooks and solitary places that were sprinkled throughout the cottage. If you didn't want to slip on your shoes and take a walk into the forest, or even feel the sand between your toes, there were plenty of places to lose yourself just in the cottage alone. This became mostly useful when Harry would have an episode, and need to separate himself from everyone else. The whole lot suffered from nightmares, or even moments where it was hard to stand on their own feet from what they saw during the Second Wizarding War. Harry suffered so intensely that at times it would be completely debilitating, and the only way he could come back to the present day would be sitting on the damp forest floor for hours, finding his way back home.

* * *

As fall neared, it was more interesting going to Diagon Alley as mature souls where three out of the four of them were gathering supplies for their careers instead of dancing about like excited students. Even Hermione felt different, knowing that deep down inside this was just for papers purposes, and she wouldn't be able to sleep at night if she hadn't been a proper student. Diagon Alley also hadn't had the same flare as before, due to that the lot of them couldn't walk into a store without one witch or wizard stopping at least one of them to commend them for their courageousness.

"Harry Potter, the boy who lived….. Ronald Wealsey, The King who cared, …..Hermione Granger, The most clever witch in the world…. And Ophelia Bloom, the girl with the wolf born in her chest. Bless my beard, what a glorious day to see the lot of you gracing my shop with your presence." A plump shop owner praised as the four of them shopped around for robes.

Although they mainly were annoyed from the attention, there was also a sense of guilt by the amount of merchandise that was given to them for free. Lia recalled a moment where she tried on a necklace once worn by Rowena Ravenclaw, where the owner insisted on her having it. She graciously declined when she took a glance at the price, which was more valuable than her Uncle's entire home in the U.S.

The days became shorter and time became closer to when the four would embark on their journey to adulthood. Summer had only a few weeks left, so the group at the cottage decided to enrich each second with the maximum amount of pleasure allowed. Their cellar came to them filled with at least one hundred wines, which they promised to only drink on special occasions. Lia used to her wand to spin boiling pots of water, while Hermione chopped up diced tomatoes and ordered Ron to hang a handful of orb shaped lights over the patio.

"Everyone will be here soon, Ron. Stop dragging your feet!" She yelled while waving a knife in his direction.

"I'm moving, don't have a bloody heart attack." Ron spat back at her.

"I swear, if I wasn't always yelling at that boy…" Hermione trailed off.

"Where's Harry?" Hermione wondered after scanning the room and not being able to spot him.

"I sent him out to the garden to pick some fresh blueberries. They're planted right next to the lavender sprigs, and I figured he could use the aromatherapy." Lia admitted, looking over her shoulder making sure Harry hadn't come back inside.

"Bad day?" Hermione asked while tossing an array of spices into a giant pewter pot.

"No, not yet. He hasn't really seen a lot of these people since, you know…." She covertly stated.

"No, Draco Malfoy tonight then, I take it?" She pried.

"I don't think Harry is quite ready to have Draco inside of his home yet." Lia chuckled while draining noodles into a colander.

"I always imagined what it would be like to sleep with him. There was always so much anger that I imagine it would be out of this world. Too bad you didn't try that on before Harry."

"Hermione!" Lia screamed while tossing a maroon colored rag at her.

A loud pounding came from the giant wolf shaped brass knocker attached to the door, sending Hermione in to an excited whirlwind toward the front of the cottage. After Hermione had exited, Lia watched from the kitchen window as Harry stood with his back toward the cottage, staring off into the peach colored sky, clutching onto a tiny glassy bowl. She let him have the last moments of the sunset, allowing for as much peace as his mind could absorb in any moments time. Lia understood that Harry sometimes felt lost and sometimes the certainty and safety the Earth gave him was enough to understand what he needed.

"Come on, love. Guests are starting to arrive." Lia gently breathed against his chilled neck.

"Hold on, two more minutes." He urged as the sun was almost completely hidden behind the ocean.

"Your blueberries look lovely. Really learning about the garden, eh?" She giggled while taking a bite into one of the fresh berries.

"How could I not almost be an expert living with you?" Harry joked as he kissed the sweetness from her lips.

A loud commotion came from the house as it was obvious that more guests began filling their humble home.

"Ready, lightning bolt?" Lia smiled pleasantly at Harry.

Harry didn't answer, just grabbed her hand and lightly pulled her toward the house and away from his safe zone. Neville and Luna were standing in the mudroom, while Bill and Remus were already buzzing with glasses of strong whiskey in their short cups. Hermione performed a charm on their normal small round dining room table and made it to comfortably seat at least 10 individuals for their dinner. Ron and Lia carried over the steaming dishes, while Harry was lost in the crowd receiving many of hugs and cheers to his health. The Weasley twins were both chipper eyed, leading in the group carrying boxes of candies, bottles and novelty toys from their shop. Ron had been surprised to see that Bill had come alone, and more saddened to see Remus also without Tonks.

"Harry, these chairs are quite lovely, seems to be made from ailanthus wood, is it not?" Luna dreamily asked.

Harry hadn't quite picked his head up from his steaming plate of noodles to even hear Luna from across the table.

"Harry…" Lia nudged him lightly with the tip of her foot.

"Oh, ummm….." Harry scrambled to say anything that would appease her.

"These chairs were here when we moved in, Luna. I'm not quite sure where they're from." Lia politely smiled as she seasoned her pasta.

"Luna just spent a month in Taiwan with these wild naturalists who she met in some nutter café in London. Tryin' to catch a glimpse of some water dragon or something of the sort."

"A teng. Quite an elusive creature." She answered while staring into the interesting chandelier.

"Neville, I am so excited to have you in my classroom in the fall. I am definitely do not feel prepared, so I am happy to have your helping hands alongside me." Lia admitted.

"You'll do just fine Ms. Bloom." Remus assured her while sipping on his glass of stout.

"You were a werewolf, Remus. These kids will eat me alive without that kind of allure." Lia chuckled, where the table joined her.

"You're close enough-" Hermione was barely able to squeak out before Lia threatened her silently with her creased blue eyes.

"Bill, where's Fleur?" Ron asked with a half of a baguette shoved in his mouth.

The remaining Weasley's went silent until Fred let out a subtle clearing of his throat.

"Fleur is back in France. She's with her mother in Dinan for the time." Bill conservatively replied.

"Is it er' birthday or summin?" Ron inquired with more food nearly bursting from his mouth.

"They split up, Ron…" George softly said across the table.

The entire party went silent as they watched for Bill's reaction; luckily, Bill hadn't seemed to take the moment roughly.

"I'm sorry, Bill." Hermione empathized while resting her small pale hand on top of his.

"No, don't be sorry. Our wedding was rushed on a wild note of some kind of young love. We panicked with the war happening and figured if we were going to die, it wasn't going to be alone. Shell Cottage was lovely at first, but Fleur became homesick and realized that our marriage wasn't what she expected it to be. I'm posted up alone for now, but I am planning on moving back with Mum and Dad until my new flat gets prepared in London." Bill finished his sentence with an extended sip of his water.

"Wine! And desserts!" Lia shouted and broke the stale air.

"Hermione and I prepared a few pies and cakes, and there's plenty of wine. Who would like a glass?" Lia offered, holding a deep burgundy color of alcohol.

Harry was the first to jab his empty glass in her direction, and not soon after the entire table had their cups filled and the emptied not too soon after. The crowd dispersed throughout the home after Ron flicked his wand to entice the record player into jamming music throughout their home. Harry and Neville spent time catching up together in the living area, farther away from the noise of the music talking mostly about their careers starting. Harry made sure to throw in a couple of playful jabs about Neville keeping his eyes off of Lia as they two worked closely together.

Hermione and Luna sat tightly together around the dessert table, picking at nearly any of the pies that hadn't been fully eaten by everyone else. The two were mainly heard giggling from the few glasses they had devoured by then. Fred, George and Ron took a walk down to the serene beach, out of sight from the cottage to try out some of Fred and George's new creations in private.

The sea breeze was cool enough to rush past the sands and meet Lia kindly on the picturesque patio while she chatted with Remus and Bill.

"Seriously Bill, if you want to crash on our couch until your place is ready, feel free. It might be a little less weird to stay with us." Lia offered, while sipping graciously on her cup on wine.

"No, no. Having some time with mum might do me some good. Actually eating good food will help the healing process too. I always hated French cuisine" Bill chuckled and Remus loudly joined in.

"I must be off, though. I'm still have an entire house to pack up as soon as I can." Bill nodded toward the empty glass of wine.

Bill shook Remus's hand, yelled into the indoor guests and then pulled Lia in for a gracious hug. He set off in the direction of where his brothers could be heard laughing in the distance.

"I'll have you know that the newest suppression supply has been the best yet, Ms. Bloom. Keeps me under control better than a trained German Shepherd." Remus laughed while gulping his last sips of wine.

"How's your animagus journey coming along?" He pried, now that Lia's silver hair was more noticeable under the bulbs.

"It's slowly coming. I'm still not quite sure how it all works, but I am positive that it'll work itself out…." She trailed off, while watching Bill completely disappear into the horizon.

"Is he going to be okay?" Lia pondered thinking about Bill all alone in Shell Cottage.

"Bill is a strong soul. This will not break him…. But… I mean…."

"What? What is it?" Lia urged Remus to continue talking.

"This didn't come from me, but I may have heard that another reason the couple split was from Fleur's jealousy…."

"Of what?" Lia spat.

"Bill may have had a habit of speaking highly of another blonde witch he may know…. and that witch now has the very own brightness of stars coming from her head that Bill adores so. Doesn't help that the two of you like your meat on the rarer side now, as well….."

"That's ridiculous…. Although I did find it strange that she didn't come see me after the war, we were friends after all…"

The remaining guests of the party gathered in the main living area, where now many of them had heavy lids and were sunken in some furnishing. Lia was passing out large fluffed pillows while Hermione was attempting to guide Ron up the steep staircase to their room.

"Lightweight…." Fred laughed watching his brother struggle.

Neville had already been leaned over the arm of the sofa next to Harry, nearly hidden behind the grouping of green wine bottles on the table. Harry was also obviously drunk as he lifted himself from the sofa and nearly fell onto the rug. Stumbling into the kitchen, he poured himself a glass of whiskey and offered it around the room, where Remus was the only taker. Lia had felt more tired after cleaning up the kitchen area, and laid down after assuring every guest had a place to rest their heads. Although she was worn out, she had trouble sleeping without Harry, who didn't make it in to bed until roughly 4am reeking of whiskey and wine.


	3. Chapter 3

"Okay, ready?" Hermione asked, holding her thin wand aggressively.

"Sure…" Lia apprehensively agreed as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

A few moments passed, where only a few white hairs emerged from Lia's forehead and her teeth slightly pointed, but nothing close to a full figured wolf came about.

"Damn it! Damn it, damn it!" Lia stomped her left foot and stood from the dusty ground.

"Maybe you're doing it wrong?" Hermione suggested while lowering her wand.

"I don't even know what it is I am doing!" Lia exasperated, throwing herself into the rickety dining room chair.

From around the corner, Lia's airy patronus came bustling to her knees, and gently offered it's head for a petting. As Lia's hand sunk into the cloud-like energy and her fingernails grew and her knuckles shortened.

"Lia try again…." Hermione urged.

The girl lowered herself to the floor, and allowed for the bright airy wolf to raise itself into her chest, where the transformation process began. Snowy white fur grew through her skin, and her body shortened into a rather large sized wolf.

"Ah yes, well you've done it!" Hermione jumped, nervously holding her wand at the blue-eyed dog.

Lia began to whimper just as a wolf would and Hermione realized that they hadn't quite planned what was going to happen after Lia successfully transformed. Ron and Harry had gathered at this point, where Lia began to whine excessively the moment Harry had emerged from the bedroom.

"Oh good girl…" Ron joked as he reached for Lia's wolf head, where shining white teeth snapped at his fingers.

Harry's eyes connected with hers as he realized that there was a sheer panic in her demeanor, one that he was all too familiar with.

"Concentrate Lia…." Harry calmly spoke to her.

The wolf's eyelids met, and slowly her pointy white ears shrank into springy silver curls, and Lia's entire body came back into proportion as a pale blue air drained from her abdomen.

"Lia…?" Hermione slowly approached her friend as she laid face down on their wooden kitchen floor.

"That was wicked…" She chuckled, as she pushed her hands against the ground.

"What a sight." Harry jokingly admitted, watching his fiancé pull white hairs from her mouth.

"I'll have to practice that few more times before I feel comfortable enough switching into a wolf to scare a first year for missing their assignments." Lia giggled.

* * *

Only a few days remained before Lia and Hermione would be packing up for Hogwarts and Ron and Harry would be filling their new offices with memories to keep them sane. Harry would be studying from handbooks that McGonagall prepared herself to finally complete his seventh year the first half of his day. The second half would be hands on training with Remus Lupin preparing for doing more solo work investigating cases of Dark Magic.

"So how will this work?" Ron asked while preparing an omelet in a steaming frying pan.

"Depending on the work load, Hermione and I will definitely be home for the weekends. I will attempt to apparate home every single night that I possibly can, as long as they don't make me a House Head…. Then I would have to stay there and come home on the weekends."

"You know, it's not something you really think about. How professors had lives outside of Hogwarts….. Now it's a bit more obvious why most of them were single…" Harry bitterly muttered.

"Well, that's not me." Lia fired back.

"I'm just making a point." Harry stated, stirring his black coffee rather violently.

"Point noted….. anyway… I am going to take some of my things up with me tomorrow. There's a required staff meeting, which should take most of the day. Harry, I might need your help with some of my lab tools. It's extra fragile, especially since some of it is still brewing."

"Some of those potions have a few more months right? And the one for Neville is extra important." Harry asked, gesturing through the rustic frosted windows allowing for sight into the three seasons room.

"Nerverele?" Ron said with a mouthful of steaming eggs in his mouth.

"She's been working on this brew for months now. Some kind of potion for reversal effects from malicious spells." Harry explained.

"So?" Ron asked, still shaking the morning grogginess from his brain.

"So, when Harry and I visited some of our classmates who were sent to St. Mungos after the Battle, we saw the Longbottoms. Neville deserves his parents back, and Alice and Frank don't deserve to live like that. The endless supplies at Hogwarts will help me with the finishing of the brewing, and I am hopeful."

"Everyone deserves to have parents, and if there's hope, we should be obliged to help them." Harry stoically explained.

"I'll help you guys too, if that means everything will be safe getting to Hogwarts." Ron gleefully agreed.

"Awesome, we will leave bright and early then."

"I'm only going to take a few things for my dorm, since I'm planning on staying here every night. So the trip should be fast." Lia smiled.

Ron and Harry spent the rest of the morning sharing ideas of how they were going to decorate their desks, while Lia dragged Hermione outside to help her tidy her garden.

"I have a feeling this year at Hogwarts is going to be very strange, Lia. I am just so anxious about it. " Hermione nervously admitted as she neatly stacked and restacked a pile of brown twigs.

"Hermione, I guarantee that after one term McGonagall is going to graduate you. You have nothing to worry about."

"It's not that. It's that I'm all alone. Literally everyone is gone. Ginny should have been here with me, but she's now playing Quidditch. Luna is off gallivanting the world with her wild naturalist group. You'll be there, but you're going to be so busy teaching….." She sighed.

"Hermione, I'll be teaching barely even half the days. McGonagall said there's going to be special exceptions this year since we're all revamping Hogwarts together. I guarantee you and I will be inseparable. Don't sweat it just yet. "

Hermione listened, but only could take to heart barely an ounce of what Lia was saying. She was the only one in their friends group who decided to not start her career path and actually return to Hogwarts as a student. The unknown scared Hermione more than any exam she could every dread in her lifetime.

* * *

Harry felt strange kissing his fiancé off for her first day of school as she wore an awfully long and thick Professor robe standing next to Hermione who was dressed fully in her Gryffindor robe. Harry couldn't help but already feel like a fool, dressed in a fancy button up shirt, as well as a thin tie with a sleek briefcase ready to start his day. Ron dressed more casually, which neither of them knew the official dress code of the ministry, but were assured to find out soon enough.

Ron and Hermione hesitated behind Harry while he escorted Lia from the front cobblestone threshold. It was still rather dark inside of the cottage, but tears were leaving her porcelain face. Once the door was shut, Harry lunged for a kiss, but nearly knocked his glasses off as he slammed into her large emerald pointed hat, which had leaves and flowers growing from it.

"Ouch!" Harry laughed, still leaning in for the kiss.

"Sorry! I've been working on it all summer. There's no way I wouldn't be making an entrance today." She smiled.

"You would either way." Harry gleamed, poking her on the chest where her wolfpaw necklace hung.

"I'm going to stay in the dorms tonight, love. I know some first years have trouble adjusting and I wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully tonight knowing some Gryffindor students were having a rough go." She admitted.

"So you're officially a Gryffindor advisor?" Harry inquired.

"Yeah! That's what the meeting was all about. We were being assigned our House duties. McGonagall is letting Hagrid back in as the Care for Magical Creatures teacher and he's taking House Head position. Slughorn is retaking Slytherin, Flitwick is still Ravenclaw, and Madame Pomfrey is taking Sprout's spot since she'll actually be teaching this new term. Miverva thought since students began hurting themselves so often, it wouldn't hurt to add in a healing course. "

"That's probably for the best." Harry chuckled.

"The meeting was strange. After the four House heads were chosen, it was almost like they were picking for an athletic team. Each Head would suggest who they wanted on their house staff and you could accept or decline. Obviously when Hargrid pulled for me, I jumped at the chance. Although being a Slytherin advisor wouldn't have been a bad idea."

"Slytherin?"Harry wondered.

"Yeah. A big part of our duty as professors this upcoming term is starting to integrate houses and have less of a rivalry. Of course there is going to be the House cup, but we want to start breaking the walls of house segregation."

"There are going to be a lot of changes at Hogwarts this year. After what you and your friends were put through, we want to make sure that students have more resources and feel safe."

"With a Dark Lord on the loose, no one was safe. Dumbledore did his best to protect us." Harry angrily stated.

"I'm not saying that he didn't. I'm saying with experience and hindsight this new staff approach might help from students feeling alone or hopeless. And Merlin forbid anything like that nature ever happens again, Kingsley wants Hogwarts to have better plans working closely with the Ministry. 'Not an Umbridge situation' he was adamant on saying, but he's thinking of actually having a full time auror staff working inside of Hogwarts at all times!" Lia excitedly exasperated.

"We will see." Harry mumbled.

"Change is okay, Harry Potter. Moving on is okay too. Maybe it's something you should work on, as well." Lia took a few steps from the stoop.

"Tell Hermione she can get ready for the sorting ceremony in my office once she gets herself together. Good luck today. I love you, Harry." She said right before she gestured a kiss from the tips of her fingers and apparated away.


	4. Chapter 4

Ministry life seemed to disappoint Harry with how in your first years of Aurorhood, you were forced to file and fill out more paperwork than actually investigate. Remus luckily was able to steal Harry away on his afternoons and take him to suspected sites where there may be evil manifesting. Harry had seen very few cases in his first two weeks, but even just traveling the countryside with Remus had kept him on path at the Ministry. Ron didn't mind staying back at the office, where only a few times he agreed to join Harry in their potential cases.

After returning late one evening to the office one evening, Harry had seen that Ron left his office with a mild mess and less than a scent of pumpkin pasties. Harry didn't mind staying back and finishing up the reports on their investigation in Gloucestershire from earlier in the morning. A few faerie dogs were causing havoc in a neighboring patch of land where a famous house known for haunting was located. They only needed to perform a few simple spells to rid the strange creatures, but nonetheless, it was much more fun than Harry had expected. Harry was overjoyed to hear about Teddy now being able to stand on his feet and babble a few words. There was still a thick mourning in Remus's throat when he spoke of his late wife, now only having Harry and his son left after losing all of his best friends, speaking of Teddy was the only thing to light up his life.

Harry felt mostly lonely in the first few months of his new career, he barely saw his friends. Ron became more distant from clearly not being able to click with their new career, and when Lia was home she was either doing homework or grading quizzes from her students.

"Harry, come sit in bed with me!" Lia screamed from their bedroom window out into the crisp autumn night.

Harry smiled seeing silvery curls catch on the wire screen as Lia pulled back and attempt to untangle her long hair from the window. He quickly scurried to her rescue, and gently tugged on the strands of her sparkling hair until she was set free.

"Are you coming inside?" She asked with a sideways smile.

"Are you done grading?" Harry shot back, with a feisty grin.

"I will be! I am on the "Y's." Lia exclaimed bouncing back into their fluffy bed causing a few sheets to billow to the ground.

Lia hadn't been home the entire week and Harry knew that when she was home and grading he would sit and listen to her curse under her breath while reading papers or doing marks. Hesitantly, he pulled himself away from the safe zone from under the blanket of stars and curled himself underneath the heavy blanket in their dimly lighted room. Lia kicked her long thick legs over the top of Harry's lap as she marked scores on the last bit of papers in her stack.

"McGonagall is passing me on three of the 7th year classes this week coming. She scoffed at the idea of me even having to continue schooling since I am teaching, so she's giving me final exams and if I can ace them, I'm done! It'll free up a couple of hours each day and I'll have more time to grade during school hours so I can come home more." Lia smiled as she shoved the ginormous stack of papers into her boho styled bag.

"She says that I should be a Hogwarts graduate by Christmas." Lia smiled against Harry's chest as she nuzzled into it.

"That's really good. It's been lonely around here. Ron's being going to the Burrow more often than ever. I don't think he's going to stick out being an Auror for much longer." Harry admitted disheartened.

"Yeah, Hermione told me at lunch on Monday that some dick in the office made a scene because Ron got complimented for a report he compiled. Ron got real messed up about it because apparently the guy found him later and said he was always going to be your shadow."

"Ron, my shadow? That doesn't even make any sense. Without Ron, there wouldn't be a Harry." Harry said angrily.

"I know, but imagine being Ron having to hear that." Lia said staring up into Harry's eyes.

Harry had forgotten what it was like to stare into the glowing night sky right in front of his eyes as he watched the golden speckles dances like shooting stars in Lia's sapphire eyes. She was a raw beauty to him, even though as her teaching job started she had gained weight, but to Harry weight was never a deciding factor in finding love. He couldn't help but drag his fingers against her pale soft skin, and recall moments of strong connection of their journey that already felt as a lifetime.

Even with the temptation on his mind, Harry couldn't pull away from the darkness long enough to kiss the areas of skin exposed from Lia's draping tank top. It was like this chain around his neck, with any happiness would become tighter and begin to suffocate him. Depression wasn't the word to describe it, because Harry knew depression. It found him many of times in the Gryffindor common room, where sometimes Harry had felt like he was the only one to ever experience sadness. This was worse, this was like a feeling of drowning, crueler than the way a dementor would make him feel.

Harry's bottle of whiskey was kept close next to the bed, where Lia hadn't noticed him grip the bottle between his fingers and sip from it quietly while she read from one of her dusty tattered books. There was a solace Harry could feel from alcohol, almost bury the thoughts deep down and allow him to feel normal until he was too drunk to think any longer.

Twenty minutes had passed, and Lia finally finished a few passages from her book where she set her head against Harry's chest after clicking her light off. Harry could still feel this electric pulse running from within her, which was very much alive and the strongest ever when the two were together.

"Harry, what's that smell?" Lia snickered as she flung up from her position now noticing that Harry was heavily breathing.

"It's nothing, Lia. Don't worry about it."

"Are you drinking? Again? Harry that's the second bottle this week, you don't need that."

"How would you know what I've been drinking…. You're off meandering the Hogwarts halls with Neville Longbottom…." Harry slurred.

"Do you think I'm blind, Harry? Or stupid?" Lia scoffed, standing from their champagne colored sheets.

"If I'm not finding the bottles, I can smell it on you. We all cope differently, but yours is changing you…" She cried out to him.

"WE, WE? I've spent the last 8 years of my life fighting a battle. Since I was a child I've been in this hell of fighting a war and watching people I love die. I continue to fight now, so don't you condemn me for the way I cope!" Harry yelled while stumbling to his feet.

"If you'd stop for a second you would see we are all hurting, we could get through this together, but you've pushed everyone away. Is that what you want? Do you want to be alone?" Lia exasperated.

"I don't know what I want." Harry exclaimed, falling to his knees.

"This is just so hard, Lia. Happiness cannot find me, I'm so lost." Harry began to sob.

Lia joined him on the tan patterned carpet, grasping the bottle of whiskey and throwing it through the open window.

"Come back to me, Harry. Please come back." She called to him quietly while cupping his sweaty head into her chest.

* * *

Lighted jack-o-lanterns floated whimsically into the air as Hermione, Lia and McGonagall pointed their wands at the Great Hall ceiling to decorated for the week leading into Halloween. Many other Professors joined them for a small gathering, which included barrels of butterbeer and pumpkin juice being run completely dry. Lia grabbed two foaming cups of warm butterbeer and sat with Lia the farthest table from the other professors.

"We should decorate the cottage when we go back this weekend. I think a few lanterns would maybe lighten up the mood around there." Hermione smiled, watching her cat shaped lantern float to the highest spot on the ceiling.

"That would be fun. I didn't assign any bookwork, so grading won't take up my entire weekend and I can actually enjoy myself. I'll make some homemade cider and candy apples." Lia smiled through her butterbeer.

"Ron might be home Sunday, they've been busy at the joke shop with Halloween being so close and all….." She trailed off, clearly avoiding the subject she wanted to talk about.

"Harry… how's he…er…"

"He'll be gone this weekend. So, Ron doesn't have to worry about the eventual confrontation that's going to happen. I don't know why he's so worried. Harry isn't angry at all that he left the Ministry. He's just more hurt that Ron didn't tell him before he stormed out last week. We all knew it was coming." Lia explained, watching Professor Flitwick try and flirt with Professor Trelawney.

"Although, I don't blame Ron for being apprehensive. Anyway, I'm sure you already heard, but we're adding new classes after semester, along with my very own idea!" Lia excited explained.

"New classes?! That's wonderful! I still have to fill up my schedule for next term since I'm only taking two required courses. And your idea? What's that?"

"Well, really it was Severus' idea. I brought it up in the staff meeting that we should be encouraging student instructors. Everyone loved the idea of an extra pair of hands helping and instructing, so along with the new classes, students are going to be allowed to apply for instructing positions!"

"Bill is going to be leaving Gringotts to come here and teach Wizarding finances. Muggle Studies will be brought back for good, Philosophy of the Great Head Houses, World Magic Studies, Firenze will be teaching Astronomy again, Politics in the Wizarding World… I'm just so excited!

"That's fantastic news!" Hermione joined in celebration.

"The new classes are going to be wonderful. Especially because we are bringing more neutral professors in who are going to be spread amongst each house for advisors. Our goal is already exceeding with how little house segregation exists now."

"I was really weary about you guys getting rid of the House table separtation…. But students love it, I mean I sit with a group of 7th years from every house. Of course we still get to have alone time with our fellow housemates in the Common Rooms, which I feel is the just right amount to have separated."

The two spent the rest of the evening wandering the halls of the castle, drinking a gallon of pumpkin juice that they were wheeling around on a tiny cart. Hermione felt the most comforted on nights she could spend with her best friend; there was a clear separation of maturity between Hermione and the remaining 7th years. The war changed her; it changed all of them.

* * *

Hermione and Lia were able to find just about the largest Christmas tree in all of America to shove in the corner their cozy living room. The top of the tree slightly bent against the ceiling, but the two had apparated it all the way from Colorado and were picking needles from their thighs for too long to find another. Ron chuckled as he watched the two nearly rolling around hysterically on the ground watching their obnoxious tree almost wave hello with its curved point.

"Bill, Fred and George are going to stop by in a bit to drop off some of mum's old decorations. George says mum's having a crisis that we're going to blow off the Burrow for Christmas this year." Ron explained, while fiddling a short string of gold tinsel in his hands.

"There's no other place to have holiday." Lia demanded, while sorting through a few cabinets.

"Where's Harry? I feel like he should be here with us." Hermione sighed while having Ron start the tinsel at the top of the tree.

"I think him and Remus are in Scotland. I'm not sure he will be home tonight. He knows that I'll be here for the next few months, so maybe he'll cut back on this wild work schedule. Who knows?" Lia admitted, while pouring random ingredients into a giant silver pot.

After Ron was sure Lia couldn't hear the two of them he whispered to Hermione, "I swear Harry's really lost it. While you two were staying at Hogwarts the past two weeks Harry hasn't been here at all. Not even to grab a change of clothes…. I don't know if she knows that."

"Maybe Harry has finally found something that makes the sadness in his head subside. I wouldn't worry too much, now that he knows its holiday, he might be around more." Hermione sympathized.

The door nearly blasted off the hinges as the gaggle of redheads entered the cottage with their arms filled with gaudy decorations.

"Aye! Where should we set the goods?" Fred nearly shouted through the piles of lights and ornaments.

"Wherever!" Lia's voice barely carried from the kitchen.

"Where the fuck did ya get that tree? Did Hagrid's family lend you one?" George laughed at the giant sized tree.

The twins, Hermione and Ron sorted through the boxes into piles of "too moldy" and "just perfect" for their first Christmas tree. Bill joined Lia in the kitchen with his box which Molly specifically wanted to be handled with care.

"Mum baked a rhubarb pie." Bill smiled while setting the perfectly crafted pie onto the table.

"It looks lovely!" Lia commented while finishing up her concoction.

"What's that?" Bill inquired peering onto the tan aromatic liquid.

"It's apple pie. My uncle made it all the time around the holiday. Quite a bit of rum, cinnamon, a few secret ingredients."

"By the way, thank you for the suggestion for me to have a Gryffindor advising spot. I'm pretty nervous to start in the spring, and it'll be nice to have familiar faces surrounding me." Bill graciously thanked her.

"Bill you have nothing to worry about. I'm stuck with a bunch of first years for most of my classes and I've survived. Your course is mostly for the upperclassmen. It'll be a breeze." She comforted him.

"Don't let me make an ass out of myself, okay?"

"I promise….try this!" She jabbed a spoon in his direction.

The same silvery banged up pot was sipped dry before midnight while the six of them enjoyed Lia's specialty cocktail. A homey Christmas tree was successfully adorned with every space decoration Molly Weasley had in her arsenal. It didn't feel like a proper holiday kickoff without Harry joining the lot of them, although, the majority of the Weasley's along did help.

* * *

An entire week passed from the holiday set before Harry returned home with an unshaven face and deep plum circles under his eyes. The bright lights from the massive tree shocked Harry awake as he turned the front door with the soothing familiar click of the brass lock. The ambiance gave Harry a blanket of warmth, after three weeks in the Knapdale forest, sleeping in Remus's pathetic enchanted tent that barely fit the two of them comfortably. Witch doctor's were reported to have been roaming the countryside cursing innocent muggle tourists, which Harry and Remus found not sight of in the entire forest. Although the trip was intense, and Harry learned about the many magical creatures of Scotland, he was happy to be sunken into his own couch with the warmest cup of coffee he had in days.

The sun was much too young still for Harry to dare to crawl into bed and cuddle his cold toes against his fiance's warmth. Instead he ignited a fire with his wand in their iron fireplace and slowly dozed off into the dawn pale light. Harry was shocked to open his eyes at the time where the scent of coffee was stale and the house felt empty. A scratched note was left on the counter where Harry immediately recognized Lia's handwriting and he already felt closer to her than he had in a while. Out in the forest, it was almost as if he had forgotten his old life, like he was born inside someone else's body, but the ink on the ripped piece of yellow lined paper brought him back.

 _Sleep tight love. I need to take a trip in to town. I'll be back before dinner._

Time thawed Harry's idle mind, allowing the normal thoughts of a 19 year old man to flow once again. The blade on his razor nicked a few rough patches of skin and Harry remembered pain, and the sight of his own blood. Harry felt as if it wasn't coincidental that Hedwig had been almost annoyingly affectionate after he had returned clean shaved, freshly clothes and half of a genuine smile on his face.

The door rattled, and Lia came violently through, cursing the bitter winds blowing a fierce winter chill against her face. Silver curls were tossed and knotted bountifully underneath her teal knitted hat as well as bright red circles of frosted porcelain skin was noticeable. Her presence caused his knees to nearly buckle, for his eyes hadn't seen Lia in this light for almost a year it felt like.

"Harry, close your mouth and help me carry some of these bags to the table." Lia huffed as she dragged a few burlap bags through the door.

Within a few minutes the table was stacked with tiny mountains of fresh fruits and vegetables, which Lia was slightly sour about. Nothing quite tasted like the rich peppers growing from the black soils in her backyard.

"You were sleeping so soundly I didn't want to wake you. The cupboards were bare, and Ron and Hermione left much earlier than I expected to head to the Burrow for a few weeks."

"Why so early? I thought the lot of you were talking about exchanging gifts for a party here before we left for holiday at the Burrow?" Harry inquired, not wasting a chance at grabbing two handfuls of sugar cookies from the counter.

"That was last week, Harry. Christmas is in only three days. You missed the exchange. Your gifts are right there under the tree." She hopelessly pointed to the quaint pile of gifts resting underneath the evergreen.

Harry felt his chest sink as he saw the ornamented packages with bows and cards neatly stacked with needles of green sprinkled atop them. How could time have lost him so easily? It was cold, but Harry hadn't pieced together that the bitterer it became, the closer to holiday it got. Harry's head began to spin, and the anxiety started to suffocate him as he thought about his friends exchanging gifts without one parcel from him.

"Why…. Why did any of you do this? I wasn't here… why?" Harry began to frantically ask, while feeling through the amount of gifts with tiny tags labeled "Harry."

"Harry, you're still apart of this family. Whether you're here or not." Lia came down to the floor.

"I can't open any of this. No, not until I can return the favor." He forcefully explained.

"Holiday isn't about gifts, Harry. It's about being together and loving one another. Everything is fine." Lia spoke slowly and calmly.

"I don't deserve love. I can't even get holiday right." He despaired, almost sinking right through the floor.

"But look Harry, I was able to afford gifts this year. Look…." She pleaded with tears in her eyes.

"We'll take them to the Burrow, open them there. Please, Harry."

There was desolation in Harry's sad eyes; Lia couldn't find light even in the brightest parts. Harry hadn't restored his vile of anti-depressants in over three months, and Lia knew he had given up. This was past any of her medicinal expertise, he really was a lost boy.


	5. Chapter 5

A pure warmth was the most welcoming trait of Molly Weasley's ambient dining area, as a giant mesh of family and friends began smashing together with excited embraces. Hermione and Ron snuck through the crowd and let any bit of bitterness buried deep inside them sink through the floorboards once they saw Harry's pale face for the first time in months. Parcels thudded against the floor as Hermione nearly knocked Harry off of his feet; Harry hadn't even seen her coming with two armfuls of elegantly wrapped gifts.

The Weasley tribe gladly helped shovel the massive amounts of gifts that the couple had brought with them underneath Molly's ornate tree in the living room. Once the crowd had settled, Ron and Harry were nowhere to be found, but the light scent of smoke had Lia and Hermione convinced they were outside puffing cigars with Arthur, Fred and George. Molly could be heard humming off in the distance as she banged her metal spoon against the pots of hot chocolate she was steaming up before the night was completely over.

A thunderous gasp coming from the kitchen area interrupted Lia and Hermione's game of cards, where they quickly responded. Molly had both arms wrapped around Ginny, as well as planting as many forceful kisses on her forehead as one breath would allow for. Once Molly moved it was clear that Ginny had aged, and looked different than from the last time any of them had seen her. Tucked almost behind the front door was a brown-skinned woman with long silky black hair, wearing a lovely ornamented teal dress. Hermione stopped herself from charging Ginny into a long hug and only lightly embraced her, to where Lia followed her and didn't care about formalities. Ginny's body was much more muscular now; her long red hair disappeared and was now a short version of a messy styled fauxhawk.

"Hey guys, this is Neel. She's my girlfriend." Ginny said, stepping out of the way allowing for the woman to shake hands with the other three women.

After Ginny settled in and set her bags along with Hermione's and Lia's in her old room, the five women sat together around the warm fireplace.

"It was the beginning of March, and we had just a little match in Pune and Neel knocked into me so hard the tip of my broom snapped off. After the match, a few of my mates and I went to go have it out with her, but once I saw her…. She was so beautiful that I couldn't even get my lips moving to say 'hi.' Ginny explained with a glimmering inside of her blue eyes.

"I wouldn't have knocked into you if you were paying attention to the game instead of my butt." Neel joked, with a decently thick accent.

"Mum, I saw Ron, Dad and the twins on my way in, and I know Charlie wont be here till Friday, but where's Bill? He sent me a letter about the split and said he'd be here."

"Oh, Bill's caught quite the nasty bug, I'm afraid. I saw him this morning getting himself a little spot of tea, but other than his sneezing, I haven't heard a peep." Molly explained while sipping on her tiny little chipped cup.

The family silently reflected for a moment, noticing that not all Weasleys would be gather for Christmas. It would be their first Christmas without Percy, even though Ginny could clearly see a shimmering package with a ginormous "P" labeled on the front of it.

"Those damned boys are going to be at the pub all night, I just know it!" Molly cursed through the steam escaping her cup as she glared out the front bay window.

"They're going to the pub? Lovely. We wont be seeing them until breakfast." Hermione sneered as she sipped on her dainty cup of red wine.

"Molly, if you don't mind I am going to take Bill up a cup of chocolate. I've been meaning to ask him about how he's doing with Professor life." Lia excused herself from the floor.

"Oh of course, dear! You might want to whip yourself up a nice potion while you're at it, because that poor angel is lethal!" She giggled while rocking violently in her chair.

The small cup burned the tips of Lia's fingers as she scaled the many floors of the Burrow, all the way to the third floor where Bill's door was slightly propped open. A light knock forced the door to slowly drift completely open, where Bill was lying awake listening to a brassy tune playing from an antique radio.

"Lia- I-" Bill scrambled, and pulled his blanket up to his neck.

"Bill, you poor man. You look terrible." Lia commented as she scooted up a small wire chair to the edge of his bed.

"I feel dreadful." Bill nasally retorted.

Lia used the back of her hand to feel his forehead, and the other hand to jam the cup of hot liquid into his palm while she reached for her bag.

"Here, try sipping on this. Maybe it'll help your cold. I brewed a few different batches in the beginning of the year and this one knocked Harry's hangover out like nobody's business."

"Hangover, cold… It's all the same, yeah?" Bill slightly cracked a grin while cautiously sipped on the rose colored bottle.

"Both make you feel terrible, but this has quite the kick to knock either out. Just make sure you wash it down with the chocolate. A bit of an irony taste that I wasn't able to mask with the mint this time."

Bill graciously accepted mouthfuls of hot chocolate into his cheeks, while clearly becoming drowsier as the warm liquid sat idly in his stomach.

"You get some rest. The potion will make you a bit sleepy, but you'll be feeling human again tomorrow." Lia assured as she tucked the edge of his bed sheet into the mattress.

* * *

A panorama of stale, gray faces lined the outer living area as Molly finished whipping up a batch of biscuits for Christmas breakfast.

"Pub got the best of you, yeah?" Ginny laughed across the room, with her short red hair in a tousled mess.

"Shut it, Gin" Ron snarled back, with his finger wrapped around a warm mug of black coffee.

The table needed an enhancement charm with the addition of bodies surrounding it, causing Lia's knees to jam into the underside of it as she took her seat in the corner. Colors rushed back into the late night drinkers faces as Molly floated the spread of morning breakfast down to the center of the table. Harry still resonated a somber aura about him as he picked at the crispy biscuits on his floral patterned plate. Lia attempted to rub the top of his leg underneath the table, but the tips of her fingers almost felt chilled before she could reach the tops of his knuckles. To avoid a scene, she gently placed her left hand back into her lap and continued to sip on her tea pretending as if it never happened. Harry excused himself shortly after and disappeared through the kitchen for the rest of the morning.

A couple knocks on the wooden stairs came from behind the table, and the entire party turned to watch a chipper Bill descend from the staircase dressed in casual holiday clothes with a smile on his face. Bill chose one of two open spots at the table, the one being across from Lia and immediately began scooping food onto his empty plate.

"Mornin' everyone." Bill softly greeted the table.

"Oh Bill, you look alive again! Just in time for Christmas too." Molly shrieked from the far end of the table.

"Yeah, I've barely got a sniffle now. I feel great." Bill grinned toward his mother and father.

He mouthed the words "Thank you" to Lia and passed her a tiny empty phial across the table.

"Where's Harry?" Bill innocently asked.

"I think he's taking a walk." Molly quickly interjected, "More tea, Lia?"

Bill quickly caught onto Molly's attempt to avoid Harry as a subject of discussion and turned to Ginny.

"So this is Neel?" He smiled in the brown-eyed girl's direction.

"Yeah, this is the girl I've been writing you about. I told you she was a knockout." Ginny beamed at her girlfriend.

Lia shifted in her chair and accidentally flung her foot into Bill's kneecap, causing a loud bang against the rickety table.

"Bill! I am so sorry, I am such a –"

"It's fine! I'm fine."

"What else would you expect putting those two across from each other? Two tallest people here…" Ron bitterly joked.

"RON!" Molly smacked the top of his bicep lightly, "Lia dear, there's nothing wrong with being tall, it's quite endearing on you." Molly smiled sweetly at Lia and then glowered at Ron.

Lia chuckled watching Ron sink into his wobbly wooden chair, but also nearly fell out of her own by Hermione jumping to her feet and pointing out the window with edges frosted in white.

"Remus! It's Remus! And he has Teddy!" Hermione grinned, where she then dashed from the table, knocking over her empty glass in the excitement.

Before Remus made it into the house, Hermione had scooped up Teddy and was eagerly bringing him to the large Christmas tree away from all of the adults. Lia instantly became tense seeing his face; she could tell he was monitoring her.

Most of the table dissipated to swarm Remus and ask him how holiday was going, where Lia stayed behind, angrily clearing away dishes from the table. Her hand reached out and grabbed one of the large silver chalices-

"Lia- I was-"

Lia had stomped off into the kitchen, leaving Bill without his glass of milk and only one fork to finish his breakfast. Coming back she noticed Bill still eating and had a laugh watching him try and scrape up his last bites with the tiny fork she left behind.

"Bill! I'm so sorry! I really just kind of went at it and started cleaning without thinking." She nervously giggled.

"Fine, its fine. But are you…?" He lowered his stare and pushed her.

"Yes…" She forced a smile.

"No…" She then quietly let out before plopping down in the seat across from him.

"Can I help with anything?" Bill asked.

"Maybe prevent the birth of Lord Voldemort…" Lia mumbled under her breath, crossing her fingers that Bill hadn't heard her from the commotion of Remus striding toward her.

"Bill." Remus nodded in his direction.

"Miss Lia, I do believe we have some business to discuss and from the looks of it, it is urgent." He gestured his hand out to her, lifting her gently from the chair and leading her out into the mudroom.

"Do you think I didn't notice the icy look from across the breakfast nook?" Remus laughed while inhaling on a rolled cigarette.

"I figured you wouldn't need to have a conversation about why the look originated in the first place." Lia bitterly replied.

"Lia, you can't hate me for this. You cant blame-"

"I can blame you for whatever I please. Remus, Harry has been through enough, he has seen enough. He could have a life away from that. What you two are doing… Do you not feel guilt, watching him decay through the mountainside while you two are out witch hunting?"

"These are Harry's choices, Ophelia. He is an adult. Things are happening. The air is changing."

"What are you talking about?" She demanded.

"I cannot speak for Harry."

"Remus, what in the hell are you talking about?"

"There will come the time, Lia…..when this will all make sense."

"Cut the cryptic bullshit, Remus. If you don't want to tell me what you two are doing, fine. If you don't want to take responsibility in being involved in the death of who Harry was, fine. But don't patronize me. Don't tell me that the shell of a man walking around wearing crooked glasses is Harry."

"Lia, I do not want to lose a friend. You are my _dear_ friend. I care deeply for you, but I need you to understand. I need you to open your eyes to the bigger picture."

"Oh you mean like Albus wanted us to all do? When we all knew how FUCKED that plan was…"

There was a long break of silence.

"Keep him safe, Remus. Keep him surfaced. Do not let the darkness take him."

She exited the small compact room, and made her way toward the living area to only be intercepted by Harry putting his shoes on.

"Harry.. where-"

"Remus is waiting for me." Harry stonily replied.

"It's Christmas, Harry. That's why he's here? To dump Teddy off and take you… No."

Harry continued tying up his laces without skipping a beat.

"No, Harry. Please don't go." Lia pleaded with him.

"It's only a few days. The ministry is down my throat about this case. I tried to push it until after the holidays but they're demanding we go today. It's why he came."

"Harry…" Lia reached out to him.

"I'll be back by New Year's. We can celebrate then." Harry assured, leaving Lia in the hall with nothing more than a peck to her forehead before he disappeared into the early afternoon mist.

The rest of the day Lia felt as if she was in a haze. Going between faking holiday cheer, dodging any questions of where Harry was at and keeping her eyes from welling; she was ready for this Christmas to be over.

* * *

Hermione fell happily over the lap of Ron with a bright blue tinsel blow horn hanging from her mouth while jazzy brass music hummed in the background. The two sloppily danced, more than buzzed from cocktails the twins had concocted out of a fragrant juice and two or three glass bottles of alcohol. George was barely able to stand up straight and used the wall to keep his balance while he sipped on a tumbler glass of orange beverage.

"OI! You spill that and next year we're celebrating at your flat and drinking some of my uncle's mountain moonshine. See how much you like cleaning that out of your rugs!" Lia screamed from the living area while her and Harry shared a few glasses of a pale pink wine together.

"Next year, hopefully, we will have a mansion! And the joke shop will be making billions! Then you can spill whatever you please on whatever you want to!" George slurred while Fred hastily grabbed his brother's tipping glass from his fingers.

"By the way you're drinking next year you'll be tossed in jail for indecency. Straight into Azkaban." Fred giggled while setting his droopy-eyed brother on one of the kitchen chairs.

"Hey Ron, why didn't Bill come? He seemed pretty excited when I invited him over Christmas weekend?" Lia asked while adjusting her party dress.

"I – er-uh-" Ron was barely able to stuttered before Hermione covertly jammed him with her elbow.

"He and Gin decided to stay with mum. Said summin' about Gin asking him to stay and help Neel with something. I dunno." Ron explained terribly.

Both of them blankly stared off into the blackness of the window, avoiding eye contact with Lia.

"Mione, can you help me put out the cheese and crackers?" Lia urged, yanking her friend off of Ron's lap, pulling her far from the party and away from any nosy earshot.

"Why is Ron being so weird?" Lia whispered while pulling three red boxes of buttered crackers down from the cabinet.

"He's not being… weird.." Hermione trailed off.

"Yes he is! And so are you? What the hell is going on with you two? I mention Bill and the two of you act like I brought up Bellatrix or something."

"Bill is a sore subject right now…." Hermione squeaked out.

"Why, what happened?" Lia asked while looking over her shoulder.

"There's only twenty minutes until its midnight Lia, we have to get-"

"We're not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on." Lia demanded with a terrifyingly serious look in her eyes.

"Well, alright, if you have to know. Molly was beside herself when you left the day after Christmas. You know how she is when her plans go rubbish…. At lunch Gin brought up how bad Harry looked and it sort of threw Molly into a fit and she started crying. Then Bill started…. It was a scene. Nobody had ever heard Bill raise his voice before, so it was a bit of a shock to the table when he got so angry." Hermione admitted.

"Bill refused to come here as long as Harry is around… that's right isn't it?"

"Everyone's been a bit brassed off with him, Lia. It's hard to excuse everything he's doing just because he's having a hard time coping." Hermione let her champagne talk more than she had intended on saying.

"I know, Mione. I know." tipping glass from him.

The two finished cutting the small blocks of orange and yellow cheeses and then served them to four men who all were sitting in silence. To be fair, George was already in a drunken sleep drooped over the edge of his chair, but the three remaining had no excuse for the silence.

"Ah cheese, yes my favorite." Fred exclaimed while shoving at least 3 pieces of sliced cheddar into the side of his cheek.

The New Year rang in, and not soon after the lot had decided to tuck in for the night, most of them more intoxicated than intended. Lia and Harry crawled into her overly puffy comforter with all of the lights off, nothing but the sound of the tiny town they bordered celebrating. Harry reached out for the warmth of her body and pulled her into close to him, which Lia was not expecting, nor had she remembered what cuddling was like with Harry. A slight breeze of his neck lingered to Lia's nose, with light soothing notes of a velvety moss and verbena. It was refreshing not smelling the typical whiskey on his breath, and enjoying a motion of affection from him instead of silence.

"My eyes are getting heavy, Harry." Lia's voice cracked from exhaustion.

"I'll hold on tight until you fall asleep." Harry whispered against her back.

"Promise me that you'll kiss me before you leave." Lia retorted, rendering Harry speechless.

"How did you-"

"I saw that bag you packed, Harry. You packed the only three pair of jeans you own." She turned around to face him, now pushing whips of hair from his forehead.

"I'm sorry, Li-"

"Don't apologize yet. Not just yet." She interjected.

In the darkness Harry felt a jolt of soft clothes fly and smack him in the face.

"Come on, get dressed." Lia insisted, now fully clothed and suited in her winter jacket and scarf.

Harry was properly clothed only a few minutes after, where he then accepted his rucksack from Lia as she dangled it out in front of him.

"I packed your toothbrush in that front pocket there, right next to a few novels just incase Remus' voice gets a little monotone." She grinned at him.

The two escaped out the back sliding patio door and pushed through the chilly evening until their feet dug into the chunky frozen sand of the beach. The sand looked like snow from being so white in the darkness. There was a clear separation of land and sea, since the water was angrily crashing with midnight foamy waves. The sky looked like someone had blown a handful of glitter into it, as well as a full dandelion colored moon reflecting against the bitter sea. Lia started a tiny fire with a spell in a useless pile of brush, where the two sat huddled on the west side of the fire, arms intertwined with Lia's mess of silver hair bunched on Harry's shoulder.

"I don't know if I am coming back, Lia."

"I know. This time seemed different. You never had a problem telling me you were leaving in the past, but sneaking out after I fell asleep, now that is new."

"I didn't know if I could handle saying goodbye to you. I don't want to leave, I _have_ to."

"My best friend hates me, and can't understand what I am going through. Hermione tries her hardest to not put herself in the middle, but I don't blame her, I would choose Ron too. You can barely look at the blackness in my eyes…."

"There's more to it than that, Harry. You know we love you, that's not why you're leaving." She pressed her icy eyes at his face.

"That's why I fell in love with you. Really the smartest women in the entire fucking galaxy."

"It burned for the first time since in October." Harry said while tensing his body.

"Your scar?" Lia curiously asked.

"Yes, my scar. It burned again three times after, and then again yesterday."

"Do you think it's him?"

"No, it's a different burn. That burn was almost blinding, this is more of almost a tingle. But nevertheless, we know what that means."

"When I left the Burrow on Christmas, Remus and I were investigating a case in Yeavering. Ministry got word of a group of magic folk hiding out, acting strange and casting spells, speaking Voldemorts name freely. We only spent a few hours there, but my scar burned the entire time. Something is happening again. It's why I've got to go, no more pretending like this is the life I am supposed to be living." He shook his head, staring back at the faint light of the cottage glowing on the edge.

"So this is it?" Lia squeezed his arm.

"Damnit, I don't want it to be. But Lia-"

"Shhhhh. Here, take the ring back, you could probably sell it for a good price, maybe set you and Remus up in a nice Inn for a few nights."

"No. Never. You keep that. I want you to keep it."

"Why?"

"I don't want hope to be lost for us….. _forever_."

"You wont be like this forver."

"But I might be. And in that case, I can't do that to you. You deserve a great life. You deserve to have kids, and your career and everything without fucked up Harry in the picture.'

"We can still have that, Harry. You just need to find what you're looking for. You need to be set free from your chains."

"They may never let go, Lia. I love you enough to let you go on and live your life. That means without me, without us for now."

"I'm not going to wait, Harry. I am not going to play the sad widow story, staring out my window longing for you to eventually comeback. I don't need you to complete me."

"I know. I expect that as soon as I'm out, there will be so many people who have seen inside of your soul and know how amazing you are. Love someone, Lia. Love someone and let them love you. Be happier than you ever could be with me and if I am lucky, if this sickness ever goes away, maybe one day I'll come back and you'll have thrown some tosser out of your life and you might let me take you on a date."

"Time will tell." She replied.

Harry stood, letting out a chilled hand and lifted Lia from the frozen ground, helping her wipe white sand from her pants. The two stood staring into each other's eyes, not saying a word, but knowing this was the moment of unknown. Harry couldn't help but gravitate toward her awesome force and kiss her warm lips just one more time. He needed something to hold onto, something to retreat to when the darkness took over; just one more little bit of happiness to clutch to.

"I love you, Lia. I always will."

And with a deep breath of cold air into her lungs, Lia then felt nothing. Harry had vanished from the beach, leaving her to let her silver curls blow gently as she faced the force of the sea, seeing nothing but a lit night sky for miles.


	6. Chapter 6

**In honor of Bill Weasley's birthday yesterday, I have come off of my hiatus and I am posting this VERY Bill Weasley heavy chapter.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Months pass. Time becomes lost in darkness. No word from Harry Potter.

The subject was sore, it was almost as if he had passed away and mouths were left open and empty in response to any conversation involving Harry brought up over the dinner table. Their friend was trapped in their heart, unable to pass through their closed throats and tightened chests when mentioned.

Lia coped with the fact that they should have broken up months before he left. Harry wanted to, she knew it deep in her heart that Harry was not involved in their relationship for a long while and that he had wanted to take a step back to focus on whatever he was focusing on.

Nothing made the truth any easier, but Lia was smart enough to not be in denial, and in the many silences that the two encountered one of them should have had the gall to do it.

It wasn't a question of love, hell, the two of them loved each other like it was the only emotion either had ever felt. Timing wasn't right.

The war fucked everything. Not one individual could encompass the loneliness Harry Potter had felt from the aftermath of the war.

Harry had enough respect in himself for Lia and her dignity to let her go. Let her live life without this giant oozing wound across her chest, dragging her down into the trenches along with him.

Harry would have lied to himself if he hadn't thought about her every single night. The perfume of lavender would linger through the open air, and he would imagine his calloused hands rubbing along her soft porcelain skin.

But Harry Potter, if anything wasn't selfish. This was for the best.

Move on, move forward.

* * *

"Alright! Alright! Third years listen up! I know it's Friday and you're all excited about the Valentine's bash tonight, but Professor Bloom expects you all to be able to brew the sleeping draught by Wednesday next week!" Hermione hollered at the front of Lia's classroom, barely able to see past a moondew plant that was dangling from a copper pipe welded into the skylight.

"Also, remember that if you are caught using a love potion this weekend, whether it be at the ball, or recreationally, from an unwilling student, your house will lose points and you will face repercussions. Other than that, have a great time tonight! I'll see you all at the dance!" Lia shouted from inside of a miniature greenhouse that was attached to the classroom.

Snape's potion's dungeon had been vacated, where Lia and Hermione had found an empty classroom right off of a courtyard on the first floor. It needed many renovations, and looked as if it was an old Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, with a rather large closet attached to it, that Lia turned into her own greenhouse and brewing area. Hermione used another large closet as an office, seeing as that she was barely attending classes and mostly student teaching, which she really enjoyed.

Once the students completely cleared, the two began picking up sprigs of valerian, and scrubbing off Flobberworm mucus from the brewing benches.

"Are you going to the Valentine's ball, Mione?" Lia coyly asked, as Hermione was arm deep in a cauldron completely filled with the mucus.

"This is Daney's cauldron. Make sure I give him detention next week." She sighed, with her arm completely covered in slime.

"And no, I wasn't planning on going to the student ball, but I hear there is a staff dance later on tonight that I was thinking of going to."

"Oh yeah, that." Lia rolled her eyes.

"It doesn't feel right to go have fun with a bunch of kids, ya know?" Hermione admitted.

"I have to chaperone the student's ball being an advisor, but I was thinking of dropping by the staff dance. I hear that most of the Weasley's are coming, via Bill's invitation. I'm sure Ron told you."

"Yeah, Ron finally went out and bought himself a proper outfit for a ball, so it won't turn into the Yule Ball again. Apparently Bill helped him, and according to Bill he looks like 'A proper lad,' But we all know Bill isn't a man of many words so hopefully he doesn't show back up here looking like clown." Hermione giggled at the thought of Ron in his dusty old dress robes.

"I am sure Bill is going to be looking lovely tonight. I remember how handsome he was at his wedding, so I am sure he isn't going to sell himself short." Lia trailed off while stocking three more copper cauldrons away under tidied work benches.

"Well, prepare yourself. I hear these staff dances can get a little uninhibited after students are asleep." Hermione admitted while poking Lia in the chest.

"I suppose we shall see, my friend. Now go off, we both need to get ready."

The two parted and Lia meandered off into her dorm room, where a tiny closet was full of a few outfits she had bought from Hogsmeade throughout the months that she had been staying at Hogwarts on and off.

"Ah, well. This one is not quite chaperone appropriate…. Ah fuck-"

A knock interrupted Lia's deep searching, and she was only surprised to see Minerva standing in her doorway, dressed in a floor length sparkling gown.

"Miss Bloom, I am glad I caught you!" She smiled through her wrinkled face, which was much easier to see that her gray hair was neatly tied back in a bun.

"Professor! Sorry to be so unkempt right now, I am just trying to find a staff appropriate outfit for this damn Valentine's ball."

"That's what I was making my way here to tell you. So after going over it, we have so many chaperones, that Hagrid and I decided that we have the Gryffindor chaperones under control. If we're all standing around like military police, I don't think the students will have as much fun."

"But, are you sure-"

"Yes, and more specifically Helena Ravenclaw and I had a long talk, and she wants you to go see her at once. So, don't worry about the kids, hell, you still are one. Go enjoy yourself, you deserve it."

"The Grey Lady want to see me… at once?" Lia asked perplexed.

Lia was shocked that Minerva was so stern about her not being at the student's ball that she was almost terrified if she didn't evacuate her dorm immediately to go see the ghost in the Ravenclaw tower. It took nearly a half an hour for Lia to finally meet up with the spirit from so many Ravenclaw students asking for help pinning flowers or fixing hair, that the ghost seemed impatient. She floated roughly three feet above Lia, with a scorned impatient look on her face.

"Took you long enough, if I wasn't already dead, I might be concerned that it would take that long for you to get here."

"I'm sorry! There were just desperate first years and I just couldn't-"

"Alright, enough. You don't have time for this." She snapped, flipped around and gliding through a cement wall, where Lia followed through a small wooden door that lead into a dim room.

"Well come, on use that wand of yours to light it up in here." She demanded, where Lia didn't skip a beat in muttering "lumos."

Underneath the bright light, there were rows of eloquent gowns that sparkled from the illumination,

"I took a stroll by your office and saw the dresses that you had lined up in that closet. Some of them were decent, but this is a staff ball, you can't just be gallivanting in like any old maid. So here are some of my mother's old dresses. It may have been from centuries ago, but they've always been the most beautiful pieces of art to ever walk the halls of this place."

The staff ball had begun, and Hermione was waiting impatiently as a few instructors had already been three to four drinks in dancing wildly among each other on the Great Hall floor. Luckily, the doors had been charmed so any students attending couldn't somehow break in and see their own teacher act possibly wildly than they ever could. Fred and George were mingling with the new politics professors, and making quite a headway only an hour into the music.

"Mione will you stop tapping your foot, she's gonna be here. Can we please just go out there and dance?" Ron impatiently begged, as for once, he was actually looking quite fancy in cream colored dress shirt and dark black pants.

"Alright, alright. I just wished she would get here. Feels kind of awkward being one of the only students here dancing alongside Flitwick."

"I don't even go here, Hermione, I don't want to hear it."

Hermione let her tensions go, and allowed for Ron to pull her into the mixed crowd of professors and their dates. Many faces were familiar, but the addition of the new courses starting that semester, many were still quite new. Instead of the usual older staff, there were many middle aged and fresh young faces enjoying themselves.

Bill had been off in a darker corner, still sipping on a warm glass of cider and rum when he had noticed his brothers stealing the spotlight while spinning his colleagues in fast circles to the live band music. The Great Hall doors creaked open, and nobody quite noticed that Lia had slipped in where she slid her way against the dark wall, making sure not to make a huge scene. It didn't take long for Hermione to notice her best friend, where she squealed and only a handful of staff had their attention sucked to her sprinting to the east side of the hall.

"Lia! You finally made it and oh my…."

Lia slowly spun in a circle, where long, silvery dress actually glowed with some sort of enchantment as she turned. The dress was quarter sleeved, with almost a see-through sparkling white lace covering up to her shoulders. The dress looked as if it was a spell in its own, completely captivating with the beautiful silver jewelry that matched a long with it. Lia felt like she was the phytoplankton that glowed in the night sea.

"Isn't it lovely? I only had to be insulted by the Grey Lady a few times before she picked this out and insisted on me wearing it. I am not sure when or why it happened, but apparently we are friends now."

"It's incredible, you look absolutely stunning." Hermione cried, lightly pulling at the few curls that made its way out of her messy up-do.

"Here, come with me! Ron and I are dancing with Fred and George!"

Hermione screamed as she dragged her friend out to the center of the dance floor.

Firenze had galloped over and was dancing the best he could with individuals who were several feet shorter than him. At this point, the staff chaperoning the Valentine's ball had all made their way into the Great Hall and it was completely packed with everyone laughing and mingling about. Lia had yet to indulge in the staff beverages, so she politely excused herself from Firenze and scampered over to the heart shaped bowls that lined the entire dancefloor. With great care, she scooped up a ladle full of a glittery drink that smelled rather strong. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Bill was steadily making his way through the crowd to the opposite end of the drink table, leaving Luna and Neville to their own unique style of dancing. He sipped gingerly on his clear cup, with his hair long enough again to almost cover up the scars on his face.

"Hey!" Lia shouted over to him, but was only muffled by the loud brassy noise of the upbeat jazzy music playing.

Bill hadn't noticed her, but continued to cup his beverage in his hand scanning the dance floor. She quickly filled her cup in one hand, and used the other to hold up her gown not to step on the edges of it. Bill had quickly seen the glowing figure moving toward him, where his face brightened up almost as vivid.

"Lia.." He exasperated as she approached him

"Bill! How are you?! I am sorry I didn't see you sooner!" She leaned in for a hug, nearly spilling her drink from cupping his back.

"I am genuinely shocked that I thought you weren't even here. I should have noticed you right away looking the way you do tonight. You look breathtaking." He spoke into the side of her head as they continued to hug.

"I think you should have known that I would have shown up to something like this eventually." She giggled, now sipping more of the tangy alcohol.

The twins had immediately caught sight of them, where George sprinted up to the band as was clearly requesting some kind of music change. No sooner, the band slowly started to fade out of the upbeat music and lead into a much slower song. Fred was gesturing toward Bill like some sort of robot a dancing motion, and when Fred came back he was conspicuously winking at Lia.

"Set your drink down, Lia. Apparently the two of them want us to dance." Bill joked.

"Ah, I am sure it was _just them_ that wanted us to dance."

Bill extended his long arm out to Lia, where she was able to see his dark navy dress shirt that complimented his eyes perfectly in the little bit of candle light that was now flickering in the darkness. He pulled her in tightly, where his height was perfect for them to still continue to quietly chat while the music played.

"Are you still surviving your students?" Lia coyly chuckled, noticing how relaxed the usual quiet and kept together Bill was.

"Shockingly, they love me. I am seriously enjoying teaching rather than doing this job." Bill smiled.

"That's so wonderful to hear, Bill. Truly." Lia grinned, right before Bill spun her in a slow circle.

"You've been an inspiration, Lia. The staff can't get over how intelligent you are and it's almost been like you've been teaching here for centuries."

"I have had a lot of help. My class would be a disaster if it wasn't for Hermione helping me."

"Stop, just stop right there. Give yourself credit, please. See that you yourself are making changes."

"Bill you're sweet. Too sweet, really." Lia flustered, noticing that she had poured that entire drink down her throat before even entering the dance floor.

Bill just lightly smiled, and continued to sway back and forth, holding Lia's hips for the entirely of the song. After it had ended, the normal upbeat jazz music started again, where the two sort of stopped dancing abruptly, feeling unfinished.

"Would you like to step outside just for a minute of fresh air?" Bill politely asked, seeing that Lia was staring off again at the punch bowls.

"Of course! Let me just fill my cup again, and I'll be right out."

Bill slipped away from all of the turmoil through one of the farther doors leading to an outside terrace. Before Lia was finishing up pouring her drink, Hermione intersected her.

"Lia, remember. Live your life and be happy. "

"What? Hermione-"

"Just get out there, talk to him and make some fucking good choices."

"Hermione I-"

"Lia, just go out there already."

Hermione gave her a gentle push, where Lia confusedly strolled out through the same door Bill exited, where he was leaning against a dark railing with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

"Bill Weasley, smoking. I would have never guessed." Lia chucked while sipping on her drink.

He didn't speak back, just offered her a cozy spot next to him in the moonlight. It was quite frigid outside, but the heat from the party kept them at least comfortable for the time being.

"Lia, I just need to be honest with you."

"I suppose tonight is as good as any to be honest with someone." Lia responded, completely turning herself to him.

"Lia, I.. I have strong feelings for you, and hell I know you know that."

"I had an idea, yes."

"It's just been a confusing mess for me. I respect Harry, and I respect you, and I just. It's been difficult keeping this all inside for such a long time, and I just need you to know where I stand. And our ages... I know there's a big difference in age, but I don't see an immature girl when I am with you. I just-"

"First, age means nothing. What we've all been through, our life experiences and how we manage them, I don't feel like a 19 year old after the past two years. That shouldn't even be a concern."

"Second, I know full heartedly that you respect Harry, and I understand that this may be an awkward place for everyone, because Harry fucked off on all of us. But I need you to know that Harry made his choices, and so have I."

"What does that mean?" Bill gently asked.

"It means that I know that I can't just wait around for him. Do I miss him? With every ounce of my being. But I am not alone on that path. I love Harry Potter, I truly do, but I also love myself enough to know that I am worth more than he has led me to have in my life."

"So, am I crazy for saying this? Am I alone in these feelings?"

"Bill, I saw something in you. You're a kind, genius, genuine, handsome man, and I have felt that we made a connection long before Harry made that choice to leave."

"It's just Fleur, she is incredible, and beautiful. It's just I couldn't shake this feeling of constant jealousy seeing you and Harry together and seeing hurt, true hurt in your eyes. It's like that light is back and I can't help but want to share some of it with you."

The two locked eyes, and Lia couldn't help but feel overtaken by the way Bill had been acting. It was true, Harry was painful to be around even though Lia had loved him with all of her heart and soul. But Bill's scarred handsome face had nothing but sincerity in it as he stared back at her. His large hand cupped the side of her face, and Lia could feel the space in between them close in right before his lips had met hers.

She had thought about this moment many of times, mostly it was guilt for being able to think of anyone in this was other than Harry. But once their lips connected, it was a calmness that had overtaken her. Bill had pulled the small of her back in closer and forcefully went in for another kiss, where Lia couldn't help but throw her arms around his neck and participate fully. It seemed like hours that the two continued to share the moment of kissing and chain smoking and sipping on their almost empty glasses of cider and rum before they became too cold to stand it any longer.

"Come with me." Lia whispered into his ear, and she pulled him along the side of the castle.

There was a door with a chilled handle that was hard to turn, that led them right into the professor's dormitory hallway. Lia's door had plants hanging from it, which always made it difficult to find the handle in the darkness. Once behind the door, her hands reconnected with Bill's face and the two began passionately kissing again once the door was closed. Bill's tongue slipped inside her mouth a few times, where she couldn't help but pull him on top of her in her large bed full of many pillows and brilliant tapestries.

His hand slid up the side of her dress, where he continued kissing her neck and stopped just for a moment.

"Lia, this is.. this is nice. But I want you to know that all of that wasn't said back there just to be able to get you behind a closed door."

Slightly out of breath, Lia replied, "Bill, I know. I know that you aren't just a guy who wants to fuck me. I have feelings for you too. This moment just feels right, doesn't it?"

Bill began kissing her again, and it was pleasantly overwhelming with how tall he was and the size difference of the two of them on her bed. Her frilled underwear got tangled in his fingers as his hand fully made its way up the dress and on to her skin. She breathed in as she felt his fingers enter her, and with such massive hands she was feeling immense pleasure. Soon her dress was on the other side of the room, allowing for a slight blanket of soft dim light as she watched him lower his head in between her legs. With such intensity he pleasured her as she held one of his free hands as she moaned as loudly as she wanted to, since the professor's dorms had muffalto charms on them.

"Bill I'm-" she barely screamed out before her entire body released a rush of pleasure, where he continued to work his mouth until she began pulling on his long hair.

They met for another kiss, where Bill was nearly out of breath as Lia began taking his pants off.

"It's my turn." She exhaled out, as she was also nearly out of breath.

"I am a giver, Lia. Just stay right there." He insisted as he fully unclothed himself and laid his entire weight on her.

"Just seeing you pleasured is my only concern." He exhaled into her chest.

A few more light kissed on her pale chest, before he knew that she was ready for beyond what he was able to do with his tongue. Bill kissed Lia's knees, and pressed his hips down in-between them while gently guiding himself into her. Lia moaned lightly, and Bill couldn't help but get extremely turned on from her grabbing his hand and nibbling on his knuckles. Bill was intense, and passionate and dominating as he continued the motion. Lia felt herself rolling her face into her silvery curls as he continued on, feeling another buildup of pressure knowing that he was going to make her finish again. After another round of extreme pleasure, she flipped Bill over on his back, where she straddled him and lowered herself down back in for that perfect fit.

Lia noticed how different this was, with Bill being so tall, the tops of her thighs were completely able to go all the way down as she rocked up and down, watching Bill lightly moan and he gripped at her hips. Bill was amazed at her beauty, all over her curves and her full figure as she pleasured him while running her fingers through her hair with her head thrown back. He could only hold this position for so long, since he knew that if she continued he wouldn't be able to last much longer.

Gripping underneath her thighs, he lifted her from the bed and shoved her back against the wall and continued with her long legs wrapped around his back. Bill was surprisingly strong, and was able to hold Lia up for a solid chunk of time before he threw her back on the bed for their final moments of pleasure. He wrapped his hands around the back of her head and grabbed handfuls of her hair as he pressed himself as hard and deep as he could inside of her, making her climax again. The tightness of that last climax caused Bill to completely lose control and finish himself.

The two of them cuddled sweetly in the many accessories on her bed, and hummed to each other until they both drifted off into the artificial starlight of Lia's dress reflecting onto the ceiling.

* * *

Saturday morning came, and Lia awoke with a slight tinge in her head and the grip of a large cold hand on her naked hip. The feeling of being left alone in the morning had lingered, and it was so strange to have a presence still there beside her. Harry had left so many times in the middle of the night, it was almost expected that Bill would have also gone. Bill slept deeply, and Lia politely covered the exposed parts of his body with her floral blanket as she lifted herself out of the bed. She fumbled around in the dawn darkness looking for anything to toss on, where the only thing in reach was Bill's button up dress shirt. Her silver hair was a tangled mess, and she fingered around on the top of her dresser in the far corner for anything to pin it back.

Her slender fingers grazed against an odd shaped object tucked underneath what seemed like pounds of random bracelets and necklaces. It was round, and the morning sun hadn't crept through her skylight enough yet for her to see what it was. It tingled slightly between her index finger and thumb, and she was too impatient to grab her wand, so she charged out the tiny wooden door at the far north side of her dorm onto a patio with just enough room for barely two people and her winter plants. When her eyes focused, she nearly had been punched in the chest. It was her engagement ring from Harry, still glinting just as beautifully as the day she received it. Sand started filling her legs as she shook with emotion, her throat began to close as she held back the urge to vomit. It so delicately eased over her ring finger, where it was like a flash of lightning with thousands of images flashing through her head.

"Who ARE you!?" Harry Potter screamed, while having a wand pointed at his throat.

Remus loomed behind an unhinged bar sign in the night with his wand extended completely out in the stranger's direction.

"Don't make any sudden moves, mate." Remus hissed at him.

"Shouldn't a been messin' around in dark places, Potter. Never learn your lesson, yeh? If I were you, I would have just died out in the forest that night. Woulda gave ya more mercy than you'll see nowadays." The stranger whispered in his ear from beyond his hooked nose.

"I died a long time ago. You can't take anything more from me." Harry spat back.

"You won't be sayin' that when ya meet him. I would suggest you and your werewolf friend get the fuck out of dodge, and run while ya can." He chuckled while pulling the point of his ebony wand off of Harry's throat.

"I'm not afraid." Harry breathed back, looking almost demented.

"Ah, see the thing is, us Dark Ones… We won't ever stop. Tom may be dead, but what he believed in is still verrrryyyy alive, Potter."

Harry threw a red expelliarmus spell out of his wand, attempting to disarm the mysterious man. Remus quickly acted and tried to detain him, but the man wiggled free from him and broke with enough distance to extend his wand and scream "CONFRINGO". There was so much fire and destruction that from the vision, it had looked as if the entire town had exploded into flames.

The last thing Lia saw was Harry holding a wound on his head, where Remus was carrying him to his feet as they must have apparated to some sort of camp in a forest. There was so much crimson blood pouring all over Harry's face, and then the vision sort of faded out. When Lia came to her senses, she felt weightless and was absolutely panicked. She could hear a voice, and pressure on her shoulders, but she continued to wiggle because all she could see was an infrared version of her porch, and so much anxiety she thought her eyeballs were going to explode. Finally, a chilly smoothness formed under her palms, and she now realized that she had been face down on her balcony with shreds of navy fabric all around her.

"Lia! Lia!"Bill called to her, while he assisted her inside.

Everything was in focus, and Lia had noticed that her hands were bloodied, and quite severed, but also Bill was torn up in some places. It was clear that it was claw marks that caused the wound on his chest.

"Prophet! I need a Prophet, now!" Lia shrieked as she ran toward her dorm entrance.

Slipped perfectly underneath, a beige newspaper was sitting undisturbed where Lia began frantically grasping at it.

There she saw it:

 _Small town of Pittenweem nearly exploded into bits, causing death of over 20 muggles. Ministry reports of dark magic use as a cause of the attack. Not much information has been gathered on suspect, but more information will be released as uncovered._

The picture of the town burning seemed all too familiar to Lia, as she saw the bits of building exploding all around Harry and Remus. At this point, Lia was soaked in her own blood, and Bill had been knelt beside her, holding the soiled ring inside of a cloth.

"It's Harry, isn't it?"

Lia had been oddly calmed, even as she continued to bleed through the cuts on her knuckles, "I can't be sure."

"Lia, what was that? You were a-"

"A wolf. I figured that's what had happened." She said, standing to her feet, and grasping at Bill to join her.

"Bill, I want you to take that, keep it wrapped, and put it in the black box at the top of my closet. I can't touch that again."

"Is something happening again?"

"I don't know."

After a long, extensive meeting with Minerva and a few members left in the Order, Lia had decided to take a few weeks off of teaching and just rest. She wasn't entirely sure if what had happened to her that morning was real, or if it was some sort of effect of the war they had all gone through. Lia took retreat back to their cottage, where she remained locked in her bedroom, only to hear Ron scrounge about for things in moments of peace when he wasn't at the joke shop. Lia knew that if she couldn't get her emotions under control, that this beast within her could come out and possibly harm students. It was mainly her goal to destress and just take time for herself.

Luckily for her, the Ministry took this matter very seriously. They had heard reporting from Aurors in the field, and Shacklebolt was a fearless minister who did not hide behind anything. Him and Arthur made a brief visit upon Lia's request to the cottage, where they weren't of much help. Many of their responses were "It's too classified to release who is on the case, or what it is revolving." and many "I am sorry, Ophelia", with apologetic glances from Arthur.

Once they had gone, Lia only had a few hours alone before Ron arrived home from work with a bag full of takeout. It had been the first time Ron had actually seen Lia, where he was fully prepared to stuff the extra food he got for her next to the other bags of takeout he had gotten throughout the week.

"Oi, I got enough of this to feed an army." Ron called over from their kitchen as he began to make a plate.

"Alright, alright Ron." Lia laughed as she picked at a few pieces of fried rice while sitting with her legs crossed on a kitchen chair.

"Now just so you know, my brothers are coming over tonight. No more moping around, ya hear? That means Bill too. I've felt bad for the poor bloke. Been dropping by almost every day looking for you."

"Bill has been stopping by?"

"Yeah, you bloody idiot. But you've been locked away in there, I thought you've died. But I can still hear you snoring at night, so I figured you couldn't be that dead."

The two ate, and chuckled back and forth while they lightly made jabs at each other.

"Now will you go off and shower. I can smell your dog breath from all the way over here." Ron joked, cleaning up the plastic containers of Chinese food.

It seemed like time had flown by the moment Lia was rubbing lavender oils in her damp hair, only dressing herself in comfortable lounge clothes, knowing that she needn't be formal around the Weasleys. Before she was done completely getting dressed, she could hear that the noise level had nearly tripled out in the living area, knowing that the boys had arrived. She could hear them talking, particularly Ron, since he was just about the worst at whispering.

"Well go on in there, Bill. We can crack open the mead without you for a few minutes. Christ, she ain't gonna bite you….. again." Ron said with a roar of laughter to follow.

There was a faint knock, and Lia used her wand to open the door to allow Bill to enter while she finished drying her hair, which was a giant airy mess of silver curls.

"Well, come on Bill." She called from the bathroom, where she could hear his heavy footsteps completely enter.

When she exited, Bill looked deflated holding his petticoat in his hands, with his long copper hair dangling over his face.

"I tried to-"

"I know."

"I didn't really know what to do. I feel so badly."

"Honestly, I thought you wouldn't. I didn't blame you either. After what had happened to you in the war, and how I went savage. I still don't know what I did to you. I wouldn't have come to visit me."

"It was just a scratch. Really, it's already healed."

"But I don't think it really is healed."

"Look, Lia… I knew that getting into… well.. whatever this is that Harry was going to be something to work through. I knew that. You don't have to feel guilty for what happened. Just, let me take care of you. Let me help you. Let me hold you. Let me in."

"I'm sorry, Bill." Lia took three steps toward him, and he encased her in his embrace and pressed his lips against her forehead.

"I could use a laugh, shall we?" He seamlessly gestured toward the crack of the slightly open door, holding back a scolding grin to his brother's that were obviously eavesdropping.

"Definitely." Lia genuinely answered, then shortly after, immersing herself in a sea of redheads, happy to have her mind taken away from of place of confusion even if only for the night.


End file.
